ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 is serving us the good, the bad and the ugly - with Joe Root's bizarre dismissal against the Netherlands being the perfect candidate for the latter category. The England batter was bowled by Dutch bowler Logan van Beek in their World Cup encounter in Pune. (Match Blog | Scorecard | Streaming | Key Battles)
The incident took place during the 21st over of the match when Root attempted his usual reverse hit but got nutmegged as the ball went past and cleaned up his stumps.
Van Beek bowled a length delivery and Root got himself in an awkward position while trying to hit the ball over third man who was positioned in the inner circle. However, Root could not make any contact with the ball, due to the low bounce, and the ball went past his legs and crashed on to the stumps.
The Dutch bowler was brought back into the attack after the 20th over as he conceded 45 runs off his first four overs. But this time, Van Beek delivered as he broke an important 85-run stand between Dawid Maland and Root.
Root, who has scored only 29 runs in his last five ODI games, was looking in ominous form but van Beek's brillance ended his stay at the crease with the Englishman walking back on 28 runs off 25 balls.
